Constantinople

Constantinople is the historic name of the city now known as Istanbul, located on the Bosporus strait that links the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and, beyond that, the Mediterranean. The site has been inhabited since ancient times, with the Greek city of Byzantium occupying the area before it was renamed.

In 324 CE, Emperor Constantine the Great re-founded the city and, in 330 CE, established it as the eastern capital of the Roman Empire. It became the capital of the Byzantine Empire after the empire’s division and remained a major political, economic, and cultural center for about a thousand years. The city was renowned for monumental architecture, such as the Hagia Sophia (built 532–537), and for advanced defenses like the Theodosian Walls.

Constantinople endured several major upheavals, including the sack by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and the subsequent establishment of the Latin Empire, which lasted until 1261 when the Byzantines recovered the city. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire under Mehmed II in 1453 marked the end of the Byzantine state and the beginning of a new era; the Ottomans adopted the city as a capital and a pivotal center of administration, trade, and culture.

In the modern era, the capital of the Ottoman Empire moved to other centers, and after the empire’s dissolution, Ankara became the capital of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Istanbul remains Turkey’s largest city and a major global hub, while the name Constantinople is remembered as a historical designation for the city.